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Why Everyone Has High Hopes For Apple Tablet
waderoush writes "The deafening roar of anticipation around Apple's expected 'iSlate' announcement on January 27 is strange, to say the least, given the public's utter apathy about tablet computers to date. What's going on? Xconomy's analysis makes three points. 1) Previous tablet makers have shown little imagination around UIs and how a touchscreen changes things. 2) With the iPhone, Apple has shown what's possible in this regard. 3) There's latent demand for a mobile computing device that's smaller and lighter than a laptop but has more screen real estate than a smartphone — something reminiscent of a Star Trek tricorder or PADD. Hence the hopes for the iSlate — which are so high that it may be difficult for even Apple to meet them."
"the deafening roar of anticipation" I'm in Australia right, a moderately wealthy fairly technologically developed nation. We're no Japan, but we're no Sudan either. No one I talk to gives a crap about this. My friend is doing a graphic arts diploma and he doesnt even know anyone who cares about this. It will come, if it is good some people will like it. Apple is not a religion, they are a technology company. GTFO with your fake hype.
If the netbook and smartphone markets are any indication of the potential number of sales that exist out there, then I would wager even competitors hope Apple's tablet takes off. Because it's been shown time and time again that once Apple establishes via ads and quality that it's cool to own an iPod Nano or an iPhone or i-Whatever then the competitors step in and scoop up the very large market of people that want a product like it for less. They're not even knockoffs per se but I would bet that on the whole MP3 player manufacturers like iRiver enjoyed unseen benefits from Apple popularizing the MP3 player. The same might be said of the many cheaper smartphones that followed the iPhone--they were there but not 'accepted' as a necessary commodity for a consumer.
I don't mean to sound like a fanboy but the competitors that have been waiting to market tablet PCs now have the luxury of waiting for Apple to either make a brilliant move or blunder (an expensive wager) and then step in to enjoy the market that Apple works to establish with tablet PCs. The great part is that there are so many consumers that will gladly take a second rate device for cheaper money and in their mind think that they not only got a deal but now are keeping up with Joneses who all have iSlates or iTablets or whatever the devil Apple may hold. I actually think it benefits both Microsoft and Apple for them to release their products in tandem. It adds to the rivalry and people love that. Not to mention, they're certainly going to be compatible with only their respective products so a long time Mac user isn't going to be stolen nor will a longtime Windows user go over to the iSlate.
My work here is dung.
One Word. Cintiq from Wacom. I used the 21" one for over a year. Got tired of my hand covering up the damn screen. I'll stick to a Wacom tablet and a screen. I want to see what I'm working on and not have to deal with digitizer accuracy issues and my hand and wrist covering up my work. I doubt anyone will get much precision using a finger. A Wacom is at least 2400 point per inch. A tablet using a finger cannot have that precision.
The reason I want a tablet computer is that that I can write on it with a stylus like a pencil, and take notes, including sketches and mathematical and engineering symbols, on what is essentially a limitless notebook, and on top of this I can annotate my notes with audio, video, and hyperlinks.
And on top of this I would like to store my textbooks in it.
I could go to school with one single item.
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
They do have an integrated spell check....
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Edit a complex video? what huge advantage does portability and low power consumption bring to video editing?
What we need is something with a decent interface, USB ports, and tons of free software. The USB ports must be there so you can hook up a keyboard. TFA is wrong: virtual keyboards still suck, and will suck. Handwriting recognition cannot be fast and accurate without retraining the writer. Voice recognition is cute, but for most people cannot be the basis for a sustained interface: unless you have a compelling need to use your voice, it's usually slower than typing, far less accurate, unwieldy to edit, cognitively consuming (as you must concentrate on the screen transcribing your spoken words), and socially awkward (until, at least, the computer talks back).
So if the task requires extensive texual input, it's going to require a real keyboard. What are the odds that Apple's 1G tablet will have a USB port that works in host mode, or a non-proprietary accessories connector?
As a tablet user for two and a half years, I have an idea what they're useful for: a helluva lot. Every task where a computer can help, but isn't the focus of the activity works better with a tablet. Every task where a computer is too heavy, or has too awkward power requirements works better with a tablet.
Every task that works better with some other portable gadget is not for a tablet. You want a phone -- get a phone. You want a camera -- get a camera (now, a decent webcam that works with * and Skype is a different story). Windows 7 ain't gonna fly here: a tablet needs to be instant-on, and low, low power (think ARM). So, maybe the iSlate will take off; hopefully someone else will succeed in selling something better. But the market will soon explode with every variant.
>Apple enters the market with their own device, which has a bunch of features that may or may not have been seen in other devices, but on the whole is a very well integrated package. Somehow, they saw a way to make the product work.
This really shows a lack of knowledge of Apple's history.
1. The Newton. Palm made this work. Not Apple. Later on Apple copied the Treo format (phone + PDA) Palm made popular and merged it with a virtual keyboard.
2. Apple Pippin. Failed game/multimedia console. Nintendo64 and PS2 got it right.
3. Power Mac G4 Cube. Failed on the market. Infamous for cracking case. Now, there's no shortage of small cube PCs. The PC world got this right.
4. Apple QuickTake. Failed digital camera. Everyone gets this right.
5. Macintosh TV. Failed TV/PC combo. Now TV is just a PCI card away or done with steaming/downloading.
6. Apple's "Hockey Puck" USB Mouse. No one gets this right because its such a bad idea.
7. eMate. Low cost Newton based PC. OLPC and others get this right.
Apple tries a lot of things and they fail more often than they succeed. The idea that theyre the ones who can fix the tablet market is a bit of stretch. Heck, I like tablets, but I understand their limitations, especially in regards to keyboards/inputs. Perhaps it will have something like the iwheel.
This sorta applies to IT work, as well. After configuring and installing a server, the boss said something along the lines of "I watched you staring at a screen doing nothing half of the time. Why should I pay you for 6 hours?" (Because, apparently, waiting for software going through a lengthy install on a piece of shit cheap "server" is "free time".)
Does it make you happy you're so strange?
>Who writes anything anymore?
Mathematicians, Engineers, Physicists, and basically anyone in a technical field of work or study have to resort to writing because inserting mathematical or engineering symbology on-the-fly while typing is very tedious at best.
I love typing, and I am very fast at it, and it worked great for all of my liberal arts studies.
But for the real work, I have to use pencil and paper.
A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
Of course staring at you staring at a screen entitles the boss to get paid a higher salary for doing the important work of "management."
"Voice operated"? "Wearable"? You're still in the stone age, buddy.
Give me an implanted (without surgery, though - like some kind of pill), thought-operated organic quantum computer that automatically grows to match the absolute latest/best connection/processing/storage/display technology. Also, it can't be more than $199.
Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure everything I just said is completely wrong.
"A problem that utterly destroyed the work of amateurs like DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Raphael, right?"
Apples/oranges. You're not just drawing, you're using visual feedback to edit the image. So there are indicators etc for showing you how big the brush is. On top of that, the accuracy of what you're drawing on the tablet is far lower than applying pencil to paper. You can draw very neat lines easily on paper but you could try drawing the same thing on the tablet and find it is a lot more wobbly. You end up forced to use other methods that often end up just being quicker to do with a mouse. It's a lot harder to draw with a tablet than it is with a pencil. On many occasions, it's faster to do the drawing on paper and scan it in. When the tablet is seperate from the display, at least, you can see exactly where the pixel will land and adjust accordingly.
I had the same problem he did, and it was just as unexpected.
Well, yes, it can, and more -- by zooming in. And also by utilizing technologies such as bezier and spline curves. Methinks thou protests a bit too much.
It depends on what you're after. I mean, you could type LOGO commands into a computer and make great works of art. It's just a matter of how much time you want to put into it. Able to do it != practical. And he's got a point. Sure, it might be fun for doodling, but it'll likely have a distinctive sloppiness that will follow anybody who doesn't take the extra care to clean up after.
Also, even if you are stuck with the type of drawing you describe, it doesn't mean that others will be.
Welp, you're right, there's a million art-styles. Conceded. But, you do have two people now who have painted with screen devices telling you it's not all sunshine and roses.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
iMac comes in the 3GHz Core 2, i5 and the i7. You may want to go to apple.com and click on the big f'n picture of the iMac before you post next time...
I do agree with you on the "slow" model refresh, but I haven't notice a real need to be on the bleeding edge either...
These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...